We report a classification system based on the changes in shape of the glenoid fossa and on an evaluation of the upward migration of the humeral head, because a simple classification based on X-ray evaluation would be of great assistance to physicians dealing with the diagnosis and treatment of RA. ...

Metabolic syndrome (MetS) is associated with an increased risk of the development of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (CVD). Interleukin-18 (IL-18), which is a pleiotropic proinflammatory cytokine with important regulatory functions in the innate immune response system, plays a crucial role in vascular pathologies. IL-18 is also a predictor of cardiovascular death ...

Leksel Gamma Knife (LGK) radiosurgery is a safe and efficient therapeutic approach for vestibular schwannoma (VS) with low side effects. The goal of radiosurgery is not necessarily to cause significant tumour necrosis or to obtain a complete radiographic response, but to halt the tumour's growth permanently through its biological elimination. ...

This study examined the validity of the StepWatch activity monitor and the optimal number of monitoring days in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). StepWatch activity data were obtained from databases of two studies: one of patients with COPD who participated in a trial of two exercise persistence interventions ...

Although extended thymectomy is believed to be suitable for myasthenia gravis (MG) patients with hyperplastic thymus, it is not clear whether surgical treatment is indicated for MG patients with atrophic thymus. We therefore assessed the clinical features and immune responses in 175 MG patients who underwent thymectomy between 1990 and ...

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is the most common form of autoimmune arthritis. Increased prevalence of metabolic syndrome (MetS) in RA may occur secondary to specific drug treatment and reduced physical activity associated with this condition. However, some recent studies suggest contradictory theories about the association of RA with MetS. This study ...

Pruritus is a frequent symptom in patients with cholestatic liver diseases. Pruritus can be excruciating and, in rare cases, become a primary indication for liver transplantation. The molecular mechanism of itch signal transduction is largely unclear. It was our hypothesis that compounds which accumulate in the circulation during cholestasis act ...

Stroke is an emergency which threatens life and the third leading cause of death in developed countries and the leading cause of long-term disability. By means of this study, it was aimed to evaluate the position of triage stroke panel in differential diagnosis of acute hemorrhagic stroke and ischemic stroke ...

Background Kyphosis is a risk factor for the presence of hiatal hernia, which is a strong predictor of Barrett's esophagus. However, the association between kyphosis and Barrett's esophagus has not yet been clarified. To investigate this relationship, the Cobb angle, a marker of kyphosis, was measured in patients with and ...

Background: Prolactin (PRL) exists in human blood in several molecular forms. Macroprolactin (MaPRL), which most often consists of monomeric PRL and immunoglobulin G, has the highest molecular weight but no biological activity. Immunoassays do not distinguish MaPRL from monomeric PRL, what can lead to an incorrect diagnosis of hyperprolactinaemia. The ...

The aim of this work was to study the ultrasonographic (USG) features of knee joints in relation to clinical and laboratory measures in patients with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis (JRA), and also to evaluate the accuracy of ultrasound in the diagnosis of local joint activity. This study included 20 with JRA ...

The purpose of this study was to investigate the long-term effects of adalimumab, a tumor necrosis factor alpha antagonist, in the treatment of uveitis associated with juvenile idiopathic arthritis. Adalimumab was initiated in 94 patients with juvenile idiopathic arthritis to treat active arthritis and/or active associated uveitis. In 18 patients, ...

To evaluate the frequency of blue-on-yellow perimetry (B/YP) deficits in ocular hypertension (OHT) patients and to correlate these findings with central corneal thickness (CCT), and to investigate the influence of age, refraction and gender on the B/YP results in OHT patients. The B/YP and CCT were checked respectively in 72 ...

The influence of serous retinal detachment (SRD) on retinal sensitivity in patients with branch retinal vein occlusion (BRVO) and macular edema remains unclear. This is despite the frequent co-existence of SRD and cystoid macular edema (CME) in BRVO patients on optical coherence tomography (OCT) and the fact that CME is ...

To assess QOL of patients with stroke in comparison to other groups (caregivers and CHF patients), to identify which items of QOL are more affected on each group and what is the functional profile of patients with stroke. Consecutive stroke or congestive heart failure (CHF) patients were evaluated and compared ...

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a chronic functional bowel disorder. The frequency of microscopic colitis and focal active colitis in the colonic mucosa has been investigated in IBS patients. Between June 2007 and September 2010, 378 patients (between 16 and 84 years) were recruited prospectively. Of these 378 patients, 226 ...

We studied the worst-case radiated radiofrequency (RF) susceptibility of automated external defibrillators (AEDs) based on the electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) requirements of a current standard for cardiac defibrillators, IEC 60601-2-4. Square wave modulation was used to mimic cardiac physiological frequencies of 1-3 Hz. Deviations from the IEC standard were a lower ...

Celiac disease (CD) is a common systemic disease related to a permanent intolerance to gluten and is often associated with different autoimmune and neurological diseases. Its mean prevalence in the general population is 1-2% worldwide. Our aim was to study the prevalence of celiac disease in a prospective series of ...

Cytokine patterns determined in the aqueous humor before penetrating keratoplasty (PK) may enable us to predict immune reactions (IR). We therefore analyzed 6 cytokines in the aqueous humor of patients before PK. By prospective clinical follow-up, we tested whether patients who developed an IR would present different preoperative cytokine patterns ...

High Mobility Group Box 1 (HMGB1) is a nuclear non-histone protein. HMGB1, which is secreted by inflammatory cells and passively released from apoptotic and necrotic cells, may act as a pro-inflammatory mediator. As apoptotic cells accumulate in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), HMGB1 levels might be increased in SLE. HMGB1 may ...

OX40-OX40L interaction is implicated in the pathogenesis of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). We evaluated the role of OX40/OX40L as markers of disease activity and nephritis in SLE patients. Case-control study conducted in 2009 on SLE patients attending the outpatient clinics of Ain Shams University Hospital, Egypt. We assessed the percentage ...

The plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDCs) express a high level of Toll-like receptor 9 (TLR-9), which recognizes viral DNA. Activated via TLR-9, pDCs also secrete large amounts of type I interferon which are involved either in stimulation or down regulation of immune response in multiple sclerosis (MS). In the present study, ...

The impact of processing on the allergenicity of peanut (Arachis hypogaea) proteins has traditionally been studied using immunoglobulin (Ig) E binding assay. However, as this technique does not assess the potential of an allergen to trigger basophils and mast cells, studies based on it can hardly be considered complete. We ...

Background. Efficient therapy for both limb and gait ataxia is required. Climbing, a complex task for the whole motor system involving balance, body stabilization, and the simultaneous coordination of all 4 limbs, may have therapeutic potential. Objective. To investigate whether long-term climbing training improves motor function in patients with cerebellar ...

Brugada syndrome (BrS) causes sudden death in patients with structurally normal hearts. Manifestation of BrS in the ECG is dynamic and most patients do not show unequivocal signs of the syndrome during ECG screening. Electrograms (EGMs) of BrS patients show conduction delay and fractionation at the right ventricular outflow tract ...

Patients with psychosis often exhibit abnormalities in basic motor control, but little is known about the neural basis of these deficits. This study examines the neuro-dynamics of movement using magnetoencephalography (MEG) in adolescents with early-onset psychosis and typically developing controls. MEG data were imaged using beamforming then evaluated for task ...

Background and purpose: Some patients within the spectrum of chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyradiculoneuropathies (CIDP) have distal acquired demyelinating symmetric (DADS) neuropathy, usually associated with anti-myelin-associated-glycoprotein (MAG) IgM monoclonal gammopathy. The aim of this retrospective study was to investigate patients with DADS neuropathy without anti-MAG antibodies, and study their response to ...

Abstract Conclusion: Specific immunoglobulin E (IgE) reactivity towards the major mugwort allergen Art v 1 is a good indicator for Art v sensitization. Allergens from the ragweed species Amb t and Amb a possibly share common IgE-binding epitopes. Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the reactivity pattern ...

Studies have indicated an association between psoriasis and coeliac disease (CD), an immune-mediated gluten-dependent enteropathy; however, the precise relationship between psoriasis and CD remains controversial. We aimed to assess the prevalence of the CD-associated IgA antibodies antigliadin antibody (AGA), tissue transglutaminase (tTG) and antiendomysium antibody (EMA) in patients with psoriasis. ...

This study surveyed the frequency of autoantibodies among un-affected first-degree relatives (FDRs) of Filipino systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients compared with healthy un-related Filipino controls. The sensitivity, specificity and predictive value of the autoantibodies for SLE diagnosis were also assessed in this Filipino cohort. Filipino patients included in the University ...

BACKGROUND: The immune response after living donor liver transplantation (LDLT) was evaluated, with specific attention focused on the inter-relationship among clinical conditions, pharmacokinetics of tacrolimus, and cytochrome P450 3A5 (CYP3A5) genotypes. METHODS: Forty 40 adult patients who underwent LDLT in the period 2002-2009 were enrolled in the study. Peripheral blood ...

OBJECTIVES/HYPOTHESIS:: Recent studies have suggested that Staphylococcus aureus secrete exotoxins that may act as superantigens and upregulate the variable beta region of lymphocytes in chronic hyperplasticsinusitis with nasal polyposis (CHSwNP). The aim of this study was to add further information for correlating the presence of staphylococcal species and the upregulation ...

Recent studies have suggested that Staphylococcus aureus secrete exotoxins that may act as superantigens and upregulate the variable beta region of lymphocytes in chronic hyperplasticsinusitis with nasal polyposis (CHSwNP). The aim of this study was to add further information for correlating the presence of staphylococcal species and the upregulation of ...

Background and aim: Rituximab (RTX) therapy has shown promising results in Graves´ disease (GD), with or without ophthalmopathy. We examined the occurrence of adverse events in GD patients treated with RTX. Subjects and methods: Ten patients received RTX and methimazole, while ten patients received methimazole only. Adverse events were recorded, ...

Earlier, we found a higher frequency of IgM type C1-inhibitor autoantibodies (C1INH-Abs) in hereditary angioedema (HAE) patients, regardless of previous treatment with C1INH concentrate. The presence of C1INH-Abs correlated with disease severity in patients who have never been treated with C1INH concentrate. We revisited these topics by analyzing a larger ...

Doppler evaluation of lower limb veins was performed to evaluate the pattern of involvement of various sites of incompetence in Indian patients with varicose veins. A prospective Doppler study of 100 consecutive limbs in patients who presented with varicose veins to the vascular surgery department of a tertiary care hospital ...

MxA is an antiviral protein induced by type I interferons (IFN) and some viruses; MxA gene expression is an appropriate marker for measuring biologic activity of exogenous IFNβ, as its induction indicates IFNAR receptor stimulation. A recent study has shown that measurement of MxA mRNA, after 1 year of treatment, predicts ...

STUDY DESIGN: A consecutive case series from a single center of patients undergoing primary microdiscectomy for lumbar herniated nucleus pulposus (HNP) who received microbiologic laboratory culture of excised disc material. OBJECTIVE: To determine the prevalence of positive bacterial cultures in the disc material of immunocompetent patients without diabetes mellitus or ...

Anti-ribosomal P (Rib-P) autoantibodies have been demonstrated to be a specific diagnostic marker for systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). The aim of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of anti-Rib-P (C22) antibodies in patients with SLE drawn from international, multi-center clinics. Sera collected from patients with SLE (n = 333) and various ...

Primary progressive multiple sclerosis (PPMS), relapsing remitting MS (RRMS) and acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (ADEM) are clinically and immunopathogenetically distinct phenotypes of inflammatory demyelinating disorders of the central nervous system. Progression following RRMS is well described as secondary progressive MS. We report a patient with unexpected transition from long established PPMS ...

Neutrophil gelatinaase-associated lipocalin (NGAL) is a glycoprotein bound with matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) in human neutrophils, and elevated tissue NGAL expression has been documented in different infectious and inflammatory conditions. Recent evidence suggests that NGAL expression is induced in many types of human cancer. Moreover, NGAL is required for BCR-ABL-induced tumorigenesis. ...

To establish non-radioactive assays for detection of antibodies (Abs) to the acetylcholine receptor (AChR) and to muscle specific kinase (MuSK). To show that the assays can be used in Tianjin for testing patients with MG. AChR and MuSK Abs in 51 Chinese MG patients' sera were tested in Oxford, UK, ...